Walter Peterhans
Encyclopedia
Walter Peterhans was a German photographer best known as a teacher and course leader of photography at the Bauhaus
from 1929 through 1933, and his subsequent immigration to Chicago in 1938 to teach the 'visual training' course to architecture students at Illinois Institute of Technology
under the direction of Mies van der Rohe. There were ten units or tasks to this course, to be followed over four semesters. The course was so successful, it survived Peterhans by over thirty years. At the Bauhaus, Peterhans' teaching involved using the theories of Kant, Plato and Pythagoras to show how beauty is constructed in the mind, and how it can be created in works of art.
In 1953 Peterhans was part of the initial core faculty at the Ulm School of Design
(Hochschule für Gestaltung, 1953-1968) in Germany, which became an renowned, influential design school.
Peterhans' own work in the 1930s was close-up, still-life silver gelatin prints of everyday objects, and he came to the Bauhaus at the invitation of Hannes Meyer
. In America he was briefly married to American architect Gertrude Lempp Kerbis before he married Brigitte Schlaich, also an architect, in 1957.
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
from 1929 through 1933, and his subsequent immigration to Chicago in 1938 to teach the 'visual training' course to architecture students at Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly called Illinois Tech or IIT, is a private Ph.D.-granting university located in Chicago, Illinois, with programs in engineering, science, psychology, architecture, business, communications, industrial technology, information technology, design, and law...
under the direction of Mies van der Rohe. There were ten units or tasks to this course, to be followed over four semesters. The course was so successful, it survived Peterhans by over thirty years. At the Bauhaus, Peterhans' teaching involved using the theories of Kant, Plato and Pythagoras to show how beauty is constructed in the mind, and how it can be created in works of art.
In 1953 Peterhans was part of the initial core faculty at the Ulm School of Design
Ulm School of Design
The Ulm School of Design was a college of design based in Ulm, Germany.Founded in 1953 by Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill, the latter being first Rector of the school and a former student at the Bauhaus. The HfG quickly gained international recognition and is now viewed as being second...
(Hochschule für Gestaltung, 1953-1968) in Germany, which became an renowned, influential design school.
Peterhans' own work in the 1930s was close-up, still-life silver gelatin prints of everyday objects, and he came to the Bauhaus at the invitation of Hannes Meyer
Hannes Meyer
Hans Emil "Hannes" Meyer was a Swiss architect and second director of the Bauhaus in Dessau from 1928 to 1930.-Early work:...
. In America he was briefly married to American architect Gertrude Lempp Kerbis before he married Brigitte Schlaich, also an architect, in 1957.